Possession, Demoniacal And Other
Page 4
The second characteristic which reveals change of personality is closely related to the first: it is the voice. At the moment when the countenance alters, a more or less changed voice issues from the mouth of the person in the fit. The intonation also corresponds to the character of the new individuality manifesting itself in the organism and is conditioned by it. In particular the top register of the voice is displaced; the feminine voice is transformed into a bass one, for in all the cases of possession which it has hitherto been my lot to know the new individuality was a man. Thus in Kerner’s M. B. case a little girl of eleven years suddenly gave utterance to “a deep bass voice,” and later to another, but always with a timbre qualitatively different from the normal. The same thing is true of the maid of Orlach (p. 36). Eschenmayer also observes of his patient C. St.:
He (the alleged demon) spoke to-day in a voice resembling more than ever a man’s bass, and at the same time showed an insolence of look and gesture which beggars all description.1
In an old case quoted by Janet, it is said:
It was a very extraordinary spectacle for us who were there present to see this wicked spirit speak by the mouth of the poor woman and to hear now the sound of a masculine, now that of a feminine voice, but so distinct the one from the other that it was impossible to believe that only the woman was speaking.2
In other cases the timbre of the voice is not changed to an extreme degree:
A voice was heard which might readily have been taken for a strange one, not so much from the timbre as from the expression and articulation.3
A good general idea of possession is given by the philosopher Baader’s description of a case observed by him in a Bavarian peasant woman of twenty-four years, who side by side with demoniacal possession showed yet another abnormal state, a “sacred” one.
… In truth this satanic reaction grew hourly stronger and the somnambulist, who, in her seizure, spoke like a saint, expressed herself in her ordinary waking state in a somewhat worldly and impious manner (beginning of possession). Her countenance, gestures, and even her manner of speech assumed withal a certain coarse and offensive tone quite foreign to her normal character. Formerly she was willing and submissive; now she showed herself bad-tempered, disobedient, and spiteful. On the evening of the 16th of October the cacodemoniac possession finally broke forth in all its horror with a hideous and yelping laugh. Dr. U. asked her in my presence the meaning of such a laugh, to which she replied in a hoarse and deep tenor voice, with furious gestures and burning glance, that she was laughing solely because of her prompt conversion which would be as promptly wiped out; and she burst into a torrent of mockery and abuse of everything concerning religion and holy things.
… If two states had up to that time been distinguished in her, the ordinary waking state and the magnetic (somnambulistic) waking state, it was now necessary to distinguish three: the ordinary waking state, the good magnetic waking state and the bad magnetic waking state. The voice, gestures, physiognomy, sentiments, etc., were in the last two states exactly like heaven and hell. In particular the features changed so rapidly that one could hardly trust one’s eyes, nor recognize her in the satanic fit as the same person who was in the good magnetic state.1
But the most important particular in which “the invasion of the organism by a strange individuality” is manifested, is the third: the new voice does not speak according to the spirit of the normal personality but that of the new one. Its “ego” is the latter’s, and is opposed to the character of the normal individual. Even if this is described as good and irreproachable, the words uttered by the strange voice generally betray a coarse and filthy attitude, fundamentally opposed to all accepted ethical and religious ideas. The accounts of these particular cases are full of vile expressions and abuse of all kinds.
The following is reported of the maid of Orlach:
During these fits the spirit of darkness now utters through her mouth words worthy of a mad demon, things which have no place in this true-hearted maid, curses upon the Holy Scriptures, the Redeemer, and all the saints. 2
The same is true of C. St.:
… He straightway began to utter through her mouth mockeries and abuse. In short, the demon was there. He flung himself with clenched fists on D. and heaped insults upon him: cheat, scoundrel, etc.… 3
Hardly had he begun to say his prayers when her eyes and whole features were completely changed as on the last occasion.… And then these strange sounds were heard: “O! Ta, Te, Ta!” pronounced with extraordinary rapidity. All this was accompanied by abuse, clamour, and gesticulation.… D. read the prayers again. When a holy name was pronounced, the demon had an outburst of diabolical fury, and with clenched fists breathed forth threats.… When operations were suspended these outbursts died down also. 4
Baader cites analogous features in his case:
In this violent seizure she also spoke of herself in the third person and heaped insults and mockeries on herself with no less fury than on those present.1
And Kerner remarks generally:
… that all that these demons say by the mouth of such a man is entirely diabolic in nature and completely opposed to the character of the individual possessed. It consists in mockeries and curses against all that is sacred, against God and our Saviour, and particularly in mockeries and curses directed against the persons whom they possess, whom they outrage by their own mouth and beat with their own fists.2
Of case U. the following is reported:
In this state the eyes were tightly shut, the face grimacing, often excessively and horribly changed, the voice repugnant, full of shrill cries, deep groans, coarse words; the speech expressing the joy of inflicting hurt or cursing God and the universe, addressing terrible threats now to the doctor, now to the patient herself; saying with deliberate and savage obstinacy that he would not abandon the body of this poor woman and that he would torture both her and her near ones more and more. Thus she was one day constrained by the demon to beat her beloved child, when during one of the attacks he knelt down beside his mother to pray for her. The most dreadful thing was the way in which she raged when she had to submit to be touched or rubbed down during the fits; she defended herself with her hands, threatening all those who approached, insulting and abusing them in the vilest terms; her body bent backwards like a bow was flung out of the chair and writhed upon the ground, then lay there stretched out at full length, stiff and cold, assuming the very appearance of death. If in spite of her resistance anyone succeeded in administering something to the patient she at once manifested a violent movement to vomit up again what had been forced upon her. This occurred each time with diabolic howlings and a terrible panting, alternating with satanic bursts of laughter in a piercing falsetto.3
These important psychological phenomena are usually accompanied by others, foremost among which are strongly marked motor ones. The affective disorder of the possessed is translated by their movements, which equal in intensity those of veritable raving madmen. It must, however, be added that these movements cannot be entirely resolved into expressions of emotion and their derived manifestations, a great number appearing to come from an autonomous excitement of the motor system. For the movements are partially deprived of sense; they consist in a disordered agitation of the limbs, with contortions and dislocations in the most impossible directions—the body is bent backwards like a bow, etc. The proof that they are not due to simulation or voluntary action is that such contortions cannot, as a rule, be executed voluntarily. Thus in Kerner’s case quoted above.
The force with which such movements are executed is, moreover, immensely greater than normal. The writers of case-histories always stress that the united strength of several persons is insufficient to master and hold the patients.
When Dürr began his magnetic (hypnotic) manipulations, the whole body twisted and reared with such ease and rapidity that one might have believed it under the domination of an external force. Three persons had all they could do to master it, and the
friends accompanying me had sometimes to lend a hand.… The jerking of the head was intensely violent, so that it had to be constantly held.… This fit of rage which lasted a full hour calmed itself when Dürr …1
All this was accompanied by abuse, uproar, and agitation of the limbs, so that three people had constantly to hold him (Caroline’s supposed demon) down. If he was able to seize anyone by the clothing, he held him so firmly that it was difficult to make him let go.… He clenched his fist, uttering threats and shook his head with such rapidity that all Caroline’s hair was flying loose.2
Even if nothing else had shown the existence of an alien and hostile creature, there would have been this diabolic force which he exercised in the weak limbs of a frail girl. Two persons were incapable of mastering her, and one would have been in danger of strangulation.…3
Quickly he rose (the supposed demon of the patient) with such violence that he sat up on the sofa when it was least expected and could not be forced to lie down again in spite of the aid of the five persons present, mostly strong men.4
The greater the religious ceremonial brought to bear in exorcising these states the more violent are the movements.
Rather than multiply examples we may quote as typical the account of case M.5 which is very instructive in its conciseness. It displays all the phenomena dealt with up to the present.
Since Shrove Tuesday (February 10th) a man called Müller and his wife noted astonishing phenomena in their eldest son M., who was ten years old. He could no longer say a prayer without getting into extraordinary rages, nor suffer near him any object which had been blessed, was guilty of the coarsest offences towards his parents, and showed in his features such a transformation that they were forced to believe that something extraordinary had taken place. At first the parents sought to obtain from a doctor some remedy for this wretched state of their child, but in vain.…
The vicar of the parish was next called upon for help, and sent parents and child to the convent of the Capuchins at Wemding where the care of the patient was at once undertaken according to the prescriptions of the church.… On our first visit we found in the child the astonishing manifestations mentioned above. We first pronounced over him the customary benediction. At this he showed such uneasiness, or rather such rage and outcries, that it was impossible to think of anything except a demoniacal influence. At the same time he gave proof of a degree of physical strength such as it was impossible to find in a boy of ten years: it was so great that three grown men were hardly able to master him. What the parents had come to seek and what we also so earnestly desired could not be achieved.
As often as the boy had to pass a church, crucifix, or monument raised in honour of the Mother of God or any other saint, he was seized thirty paces away with sudden agitation and fell unconscious to the earth. He had then to be carried away from the pious object, after which he was able to continue his walk. We observed, moreover, that in church he showed terrible uneasiness, quite particularly marked during the holy elevation; he could never turn his eyes, which were always closed, towards the altar. In this wretched state the boy passed almost six months, and as no improvement appeared in spite of prayers, but on the contrary he grew worse each day, the father wrote to his Grace the Bishop of Augsburg begging him to proceed to solemn exorcism.
He obtained the Bishop’s permission and the exorcism took place. Father Aurelian, who played the chief part in it, relates in these words what took place:
“With heavy hearts but confident in the help of God, we, Father Remigius and Father Aurelian, proceeded for the first time (in the church) to solemn exorcism.… Some time before we began the exorcism the boy boxed his parents’ ears in an indescribable manner, and when we had him led to the presbytery a truly frightful scene took place. For when they would have executed our order, the possessed uttered a terrible cry. We seemed no longer to hear a human voice, but that of a savage animal, and so powerful that the howlings—the word is not too strong—were heard at a distance of several hundred metres from the convent chapel, and those who heard them were overcome with fear. It may be imagined what courage we priests needed. And worse was yet to come; when his father tried to bring the boy into the presbytery he became weaker than a child beside him. The weak child flung the strong father to the earth with such violence that our hearts were in our mouths. At length, after a long struggle, he was overcome by his father, the men who were witnesses and one lay brother, and led into the presbytery. By way of precaution we had him bound hand and foot with straps, but he moved his limbs as if nothing of the kind had been done. After these preliminaries we disposed ourselves to perform the rite of exorcism, full of confidence in help from on high. We used the grand ritual of Eichstatt. Although this is not mentioned therein, we exposed the fragment of the Holy Cross. When the Sign of the Cross was made with it, the young man uttered an appalling scream. All the time he did not cease to spit forth vile insults against the fragment of the Cross and the two officiants Father Remigius and Father Aurelian. The clamour and spitting lasted without interruption until the recitation of the litanies of the saints. Then took place the exorcism, which we pronounced in Latin. To all our questions the possessed made no reply, but he showed great contempt for us and spat upon us each time…1
Paintings and drawings give a clearer idea of possession than any verbal description, and the art of the past includes a whole series of pictures of it. The most important have been published by Charcot and Richer in a special work, others in the iconography of the Salpêtrière, where they may be consulted by the reader.
Charcot and Richer, Les Démoniaques dans l’art, Paris, 1887.
Paul Richer, Études cliniques sur la grande hystérie ou hystéro-épilepsie, 2nd ed., Paris, 1885.
Gilles de la Tourette, Sur un tableau perdu de Rubens représentant la guérison de la possédée (Iconography of the Salpêtrière), v, 1892.
P. Richer and H. Meige, Documents inédits sur les démoniaques dans l’art, ibid., ix, 1896.
Jean Heitz, Les démoniaques et les malades dans l’art byzantin, ibid., xiv, 1901.
H. Meige, Les tapisseries de Rubens, ibid., xiv, 1901.
J. Heitz, Un possédé de Rubens: la transfiguration du Musée de Nancy, ibid., xiv, 1901.
However frequent motor hyper-excitement may be in the possessed—and it is this which has focussed attention on those pathological disturbances—it does not arise in every case; some are entirely without it, and show no tendency to violent activity. In particular it may be absent when the patient believes himself possessed not by a demon but by the soul of a deceased person.
1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 14.
2 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., p. 18.
3 Kerner, Geschichten, etc., p. 105, M. B. case.
1 Eschenmayer, loc. cit., p. 47.
2 Histoire des diables de Loudun, Amsterdam, 1716, pp. 226 sq.
3 Ibid., p. 229.
1 Flournoy, Des Indes à la planète Mars, Genève-Paris, 1900, p. 100.
2 Azam, Hypnotisme, double conscience et altérations de la personnalité, Paris, 1887.
3 Bourru et Burot, Variations de la personnalité, Paris, 1888.
4 The first attempt, dogmatic but nevertheless very worthy of attention, to explain these expressive stereotypes systematically is due to Lavater.
1 Eschenmayer, loc. cit., p. 59.
2 Pierre Janet, Névroses et idées fixes, Paris, 1889, vol. i, p. 384.
3 Blumhardt quoted by Mandel, Der Sieg von Möttlingen, Leipzig, 1896, p. 80.
1 F. von Baader, Sämtlichte Werke, Leipzig, 1853, vol. iv, pp. 56 sq.
2 Kerner, Die Geschichte des Mädchens von Orlach, p. 36.
3 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., p. 14.
4 Ibid., p. 19.
1 Baader, Fragment, p. 47.
2 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 13.
3 Kerner, ibid., p. 88.
1 Eschenmayer, loc. cit., p. 15.
2 Ibid., p. 18.
3 Ibid., p. 58.
&n
bsp; 4 Ibid., p. 91.
5 Am Ausgang des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, Barmen, 1892.
1 Loc. cit., pp. 5 sq.
CHAPTER III
THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED
1. THE SOMNAMBULISTIC FORM OF POSSESSION
Now that we know the impression produced by possessed persons on the observer, we shall study the inner aspect of their condition. What is the subjective state of the possessed, what do they feel in their paroxysms of rage, are they in the same condition as raving madmen, or do they present a different reaction?
A review of the above-mentioned cases at once emphasizes the fact already remarked, that the personality which appears in demoniacal seizures is totally different from that of the normal state. In the old cases it is principally “demons,” or “devils,” which speak. In some instances there are even several which appear by turns—Jeanne des Anges possessed a whole collection seven in number, which in the manner typical of all these early cases were called Asmodeus, Leviathan, Behemoth, Isacaaron, Balaam, Gresil, and Haman.
Kerner has made similar observations:
It often happens that we recognize in a single individual not merely one demon but several at once or in succession; there speak in him two, three or more voices and individualities. They say that they have chosen as seat such and such a part of the body, and cause him such and such pains and sufferings.…1
There were also in a certain case two men and an old woman, who spoke by the mouth of a possessed woman of thirty-two years of age.2
In more recent times, especially in the eighteenth century and still much more in the nineteenth when belief in the devil is diminishing, it is more particularly the souls of the dead “not at peace” who enter into the living. Nevertheless, ancient examples of this are also found. Thus Justin Martyr speaks of men “of whom the souls of the dead had taken possession and who had been cast to the ground and said by all to be possessed of demons.”1 As regards the souls of the dead, the idea that they can enter into man is the more readily admitted in primitive times as certain souls, especially the deeply degraded ones of criminals, are often conceived as wandering. For this reason it is generally bad souls which cause possession, but there are also “good” possessions.2 Kerner also lays down from personal experience that “it is common to many of these accounts that the demons describe themselves as the outcast spirits of the unhappy dead, just as almost always the good demons (guides) who manifest themselves in agathomagnetism give themselves out as blessed spirits of the dead.”3 Naturally, the mere act of imagining a living person may also lead to possession, but in actual fact this has occurred but rarely; at least, I have only been able to find two cases in literature.